Longhope


Orkney

An important hamlet and ferry-port on the South Walls peninsula of the island of Hoy (Orkney), Longhope lies on South Ness facing north onto an inlet of the same name. Longhope has been associated with the navy since trading ships heading for the Baltic were assembled into convoys here to avoid privateers during the Napoleonic Wars. The Longhope Hotel became the headquarters of the Scapa Flow Naval Base, home to the British Grand Fleet between 1914 and 1919, after which it moved to Lyness, 3 miles (5 km) to the north. King George V visited in 1915, knighting Vice-Admiral Sir Stanley Colville (Admiral Commanding Orkney and Shetland) at the hotel, and Edward VIII (then Prince of Wales), visited later the same year.

Longhope receives a ferry from Houton via Lyness and the island of Flotta. The Longhope lifeboat has been providing a rescue service in the dangerous Pentland Firth since 1874. Disaster struck on 17th March 1969 when the boat, TGB, was lost with its crew of eight in a force-9 gale while trying to reach the cargo ship Irene. The lifeboat station was originally located on Aith Hope, 2 miles (3 km) to the southwest, but in 1999 a new boat was brought into service from Longhope pier.


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